VMWare

VMware Data Protection with Data Domain and DD Boost

VMware now provides a very powerful Data Protection suite as part of all versions of vSphere. So, you don’t need to invest in another backup solution..

VMware Data Protection can be integrated with EMC DataDomain, EMC DDBoost, and EMC Data Protection Advisor to provide a central integrated backup solution for Virtual Environments.. Data Domains can be used to replicated over WANs.

vSphere Data Protection has the capability to properly back up and restore Exchange Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint application databases. SQL Server clusters and Exchange Server database availability groups are also supported. A vSphere Data Protection application agent is installed in the guest OS of each virtual machine running these applications. It is also possible to install these agents on physical machines to protect Exchange Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint application databases. Agents enable application-consistent backup and recovery and provide support for other options such as full, differential, or incremental backups; multistream backups; and database log management.

EMC Data Domain Boost for Enterprise Applications integrates seamlessly with Oracle RMAN, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP, SAP HANA, and IBM DB2 to provide application owners and database administrators with complete control of their own backups, using their native application utilities. This empowers applications owners with the control they desire and eliminates storage silos for application protection.

With vSphere Data Protection, it is possible to restore individual files, folders, and directories within a virtual
machine. An FLR operation is performed using a Web-based tool called vSphere Data Protection Restore Client.The process enables end users to conduct restores on their own, without the assistance of an administrator, by selecting a restore point and browsing the file system as it looked at the time that backup was done. They locate the item(s) to be recovered, select a destination for the restored item(s), and start the recovery. The progress ofthe restore job can be monitored in vSphere Data Protection Restore Client.

To enable virtualized HV, use the web client and navigate to the processor settings screen. Check the box next to “Expose hardware-assisted virtualization to the guest operating system.” This setting is not available under the traditional C# client.

Edit the .vmx and echo ‘vhv.enable = “TRUE”‘ >> *.vmx

Check all the settings if you get the following error at ESXi Install:<HARDWARE_VIRTUALIZATION WARNING: Hardware Virtualization is not a feature of the CPU, or is not enabled in the BIOS>

VMware SDDC Networking Features

Here is a quick summary of some very new features for VMware vSphere Networking and Multi-Tenant Security..

Cisco Nexus 1000V provides L2 functionality and combines the fabric level networking management seamlessly into the virtual layer for North-South Layer 2/3 Communication. All compatible Cisco Nexus can be managed from the same VSM. This makes it easy for the existing Networking team to be able to manage the networking inside vSphere. VMware NSX provides granular policy based L4-L7 Networking features integrated into the hypervisor to secure and manage East-West Communication.

How to Resize VDI Virtual Disks with PowerCLI Script

To resize virtual disk in multiple Virtual Machines, a scripted process is recommended as it will make the job quicker and manageable.

This document is based on the following technology:

VMware ESX 4.1.0

Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit SP0 Virtual Machine

If different version is used, the manual process and scripted process might need to be adjusted as some PowerCLI functions might have been deprecated.

Tools for Scripted Process

The script has been created to help the whole process quicker and less error prone. The script is developed with VMware vSphere PowerCLI, sysinternal and DiskPart.

There are 2 major steps to resize a disk in Virtual Machine:

Resize the virtual disk of the Virtual Machine

Extend the Guest Operating Systems’ volume

Those 2 steps are explained in more details on the section below

Resize the virtual disk of the Virtual Machine

To resize multiple or potentially hundred or thousand Virtual Machine, doing the manual resizing can definitely lead to error, not to mention the time it is going to take to do it.
A Script has been created to do this particular task. The script is based on VMware vSphere PowerCLI and sysinternal tools. PowerCLI is used to call the vSphere Web Service API to resize the virtual disk on each Virtual Machine. Sysinternal is used to execute the diskpart utility remotely on each Virtual Machine
Script Requirements

To be able to execute the script, the following file(s) and application are required:

vSphere PowerCLI installed on the machine that is going to be used to run the PowerCLI script

Installing Intel NIC Drivers on VMware ESXi for System x3650 M3

This procedure describes, how to setup base Networking configuration for ESXi 4.1 on IBM System X 3650 M3 Servers:

This is a high level overview and reference only. This is not a step-by-step guide. You will need to have 3rd experience in VMWare to use this guide. This should be used with ESXi build guides and Detailed design.